Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
South from Recife
The coast south of Recife has the best
beaches
in the state, beginning with the
Cabo de
Santo Agostinho
area but especially
Porto de Galinhas
, a once scrappy fishing port that
has been transformed into one of Brazil's hippest resorts. Further south lies the enticing
village of
Tamandaré
, which - for now at least - remains a much sleepier place.
Cabo de Agostinho and around
Some 35km south of Recife,
CABO DE AGOSTINHO
is a small town near an especially
rich section of coast, beginning with
Praia do Paiva
just south of the Rio Jaboatao.
From here the beachside development continues more or less without a break for
13km to
Gaibú
, a sizeable resort town with palm trees, bars and surf - it's a good base
for beach-hopping
.
Just south of Gaibú lies the cape of
São Agostinho
itself, a pleasant walk uphill
through palms and mango trees. Some 3km from central Gaibú a signposted dirt road
to the left leads out onto a promontory where the forest suddenly disappears and leaves
you with a stunning view of the idyllic, and usually deserted, beach of
Calhetas
, the
waters offshore especially popular for scuba diving and underwater fishing. A little
further south on the main road is another left turn to
Vila Nazaré
. During the Dutch
occupation, there was vicious fighting here, and most of the village remains in ruins.
Beyond the seventeenth-century
Igreja de Nazare
and adjacent ruins of the Convento
Carmelita, there are the pulverized remains of a fort and burnt-out shells of Dutch
buildings. There's also a plaque commemorating the Spanish conquistador Yanez
Piñon, blown south by storms on his way to the Caribbean in 1500. He is thought
to have put in here for shelter a couple of months before Cabral “discovered” Brazil.
The cape is crisscrossed with several walking trails; keep going beyond the Igreja de
Nazare and you'll come to tiny
Praia do Paraíso
on the south side of the cape,
overlooking Praia Suape and the port complex beyond.
4
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
CABO DE AGOSTINHO
By bus
Bus #195 runs between Recife's Terminal de
Passageiros Santa Rita and Cabo de Agostinho every 30min
(R$3.35); from here there are frequent local buses to Gaibú
and the beaches.
By car
From Recife, avoid the BR-101 highway and take
PE-009 along the coast instead.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
★
Namoa
Av Beira Mar 87, Praia de Gaibú
T
81 3512
0035,
W
www.namoa.com.
Comfortable boutique option
close to the beach (and 1km from Calhetas), with 15
stylish, contemporary rooms and cosy restaur
ant (da
ily
11am-10pm) overlooking the waves. Free wi-fi.
R$330
Pousada Touit
Rua Joaquim Leão Neto 179, Praia de
Gaibú
T
81 3522 6020,
W
www.ousadatouit.com.br.
Laidback inn 80m from the beach, with lu
sh gard
ens,
bright and airy a/c rooms, a bar and free wi-fi.
R$220
Porto de Galinhas and around
The days of
PORTO DE GALINHAS
, 65km south of Recife, being a sleepy fishing port
are long gone, and it's now one of the nation's up-and-coming beach resorts, with
pedestrianized streets, gorgeous palm-fringed strips of sand and several luxurious
hotels. The town itself lies in the centre of the main strip around a central square,
Pracinha, with Praia do Cupe and Praia Muro Alto to the north, and Maracaípe (4km)
and Serrambi (10km) beaches to the south. From the main Porto beach
jangadas
(R$15/person, plus R$8 for snorkel) will take you out to the small, natural coral pools
just off the coast, and there is some excellent
surfing
at Maracaípe.
The name “Chicken Port” derives from a history of slave running; after the
British forcibly halted the slave trade with Africa in the 1850s, tax-dodging,
life-dealing smugglers would arrive here proclaiming they had a shipment of
“Angolan chickens”.
